Carl Jason Tondo
Shining Upon the Dominance of Patriarchy
Male characters usually dominate the theaters, the genre to be specific. This is due to the fact that the audience and film corporations subconsciously endow the male character with the dominant role. Why do we always make man superior? As patriarchy, within a nuclear family, limits the opportunity for women to have the position of power. Shouldn't we, the film community, give woman a chance? Nope, instead films are motivated to place women in victimized roles. "The newly revitalized family melodrama" (Sobchack 144) provides clear evidence that men and women attempt to fight each other for the position of power within the family. In Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, the audience watches the family go through dispute due to the father's gradual transition into a mad man. As Jack, the father, turns mad, he starts to victimize his wife, Wendy. With this, the film presents the audience with a case of an abusive relationship.
Instead of using just one scene, multiple scenes will be used in order to support the theory that victimization and extreme patriarchy exists within the family. A scene that best represents these two ideas is when Wendy is holding a baseball bat while Jack threatens her by presenting evidences that preserve his dominant role within the family. Wendy's actor performs the feeling of being a vulnerable person so well that she is able to have the audience empathize with her fear and feeling of vulnerability. A couple of shots from scene should aid in seeing the abuse and victimization between a husband and a wife.
The costumes within the Mise en Scéne of this scene work really well as they add supporting detail of the characters' position in the story. In this particular shot of the Danny and Jack scene, the audience sees that Jack is clothed in all blue. This gives the idea that the color blue is phallic symbol, which means that the clothes enhance the thought that Jack is the most masculine within the family. Danny is dressed in a kid's outfit, which also includes the sweater being blue and a picture of Mickey Mouse on the sweater. This scene really emphasizes that the color blue is masculine, and therefore encouraging the idea that Danny and Jack are the masculine parts of the family.
As the audience view Wendy being victimized by Jack, we also have the opportunity of seeing Danny fill the role of the terrorized child in the later-evolved horror genre. Most scenes of abuse, with the exception of the ending, only include Jack and Wendy. Danny usually explores the hotel on his own and would be susceptible to victimization by terrifying hallucinations. It's particularly interesting that Clover mentions,“Within the film text itself, men gaze at women, who become objects of the gaze; the spectator, in turn, is made to identify with this male gaze, and to objectify the women on the screen; and the camera’s original ‘gaze’ comes into play in the very act of filming, ” because of the perspective that we take when viewing the film (Clover). We are presented with the evidence that we have the male gaze and we often put characters affected by the gaze to be feminine.
Danny filling the role of the terrorized child
Adding up the use of costume, lighting, and gaze, we can assume that the nuclear family within films subconsciously encourages the idea of extreme patriarchy. We can clearly see that the terrorized child is also affected by patriarchy and the male gaze. To shine some light on a new idea, since most film directors are male and we often believe that the camera's eye is the director eye, then we are led to believe the theory behind the male gaze. With this gaze, it supports the dominance of patriarchy within the film and victimizes characters that resemble feminine traits.
Instead of using just one scene, multiple scenes will be used in order to support the theory that victimization and extreme patriarchy exists within the family. A scene that best represents these two ideas is when Wendy is holding a baseball bat while Jack threatens her by presenting evidences that preserve his dominant role within the family. Wendy's actor performs the feeling of being a vulnerable person so well that she is able to have the audience empathize with her fear and feeling of vulnerability. A couple of shots from scene should aid in seeing the abuse and victimization between a husband and a wife.
Jack eerily smiling at Wendy
Wendy clearly shows that she being victimized
This is when Jack says, "I'll bash your brains right in."
An interesting discovery during this scene is that the lighting is different for Wendy and Jack. The lighting for Wendy is very bright and blinding. It's as if that the light either resembles her purity or the fact that she is terrified by Jack. At one of the frames within the scene, the window lets in the blinding sunlight and shines it upon Wendy's face. Rest assured, Wendy looks so pale and ghostly when she is being threatened by Jack. On the other hand, the sunlight isn't really directed on Jack's face in the whole scene. The sunlight only shines behind Jack's head, which in turn creates a contrast the darkens the lighting in front of Jack's face. An example of this would be the first picture used above. Through a series of shot/reverse-shots, the scene illustrates Jack as the monster within the family and Wendy as the 'damsel in distress.'
Jack and Danny Discussing about the Family's Relationship
The costumes within the Mise en Scéne of this scene work really well as they add supporting detail of the characters' position in the story. In this particular shot of the Danny and Jack scene, the audience sees that Jack is clothed in all blue. This gives the idea that the color blue is phallic symbol, which means that the clothes enhance the thought that Jack is the most masculine within the family. Danny is dressed in a kid's outfit, which also includes the sweater being blue and a picture of Mickey Mouse on the sweater. This scene really emphasizes that the color blue is masculine, and therefore encouraging the idea that Danny and Jack are the masculine parts of the family.
As the audience view Wendy being victimized by Jack, we also have the opportunity of seeing Danny fill the role of the terrorized child in the later-evolved horror genre. Most scenes of abuse, with the exception of the ending, only include Jack and Wendy. Danny usually explores the hotel on his own and would be susceptible to victimization by terrifying hallucinations. It's particularly interesting that Clover mentions,“Within the film text itself, men gaze at women, who become objects of the gaze; the spectator, in turn, is made to identify with this male gaze, and to objectify the women on the screen; and the camera’s original ‘gaze’ comes into play in the very act of filming, ” because of the perspective that we take when viewing the film (Clover). We are presented with the evidence that we have the male gaze and we often put characters affected by the gaze to be feminine.
The bloody, terrifying hallucinations of Danny
Adding up the use of costume, lighting, and gaze, we can assume that the nuclear family within films subconsciously encourages the idea of extreme patriarchy. We can clearly see that the terrorized child is also affected by patriarchy and the male gaze. To shine some light on a new idea, since most film directors are male and we often believe that the camera's eye is the director eye, then we are led to believe the theory behind the male gaze. With this gaze, it supports the dominance of patriarchy within the film and victimizes characters that resemble feminine traits.
Work Cited
Clover, Carol J. "Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film." Representations, No. 20, 1987
Sobchack, Vivian. Bringing it all back home: Family Economy and Generic Exchange. Print
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